Collegiate Times

Those who go to college do so primarily to gain a better education and learn about themselves as they become adults. But it is also crucial for students to realize that college is a time and place to form their own opinions. 

The majority of all college students earning an undergraduate degree, and even some graduate students nowadays, are between the ages of 18 and 25. This age group is, unfortunately, still at a very vulnerable stage in life. 

Although people in this age group are considered adults and have the ability to survive on their own, they are still gullible and have not completely developed their own opinions.

Until the age of 25, the human brain is typically not fully developed, according to neurologists. Therefore, until someone reaches this calculated age, they are more likely to make decisions blindly based on influence, rather than on facts and personal viewpoints.

While we are growing up, a lot of our “personal” views on topics come from people who have great impacts on our lives, such as parents, friends or teachers. Teenagers especially are easily targeted and influenced by things they watch on TV or what their peers say.

However, this does not need to be the case. Neurologists also argue that although the brain is underdeveloped during people’s teenage years and early 20s, this does not imply that those in this age group are incapable of slowing down their thought processes to think about decisions and beliefs. 

College is the first time most of us are, for the most part, on our own. We are allowed to do whatever we want, whenever we want. We are basically given a four-year buffer period to make mistakes and learn from them without harsh or life-changing consequences.

It is important, then, to strongly encourage everyone on campus to begin thinking for themselves. We need to find out what our passions are and, in a sense, begin seeing the world with our own eyes.

We should no longer be blinded by what others tell us. And we shouldn’t continue to be ignorant about current events globally and locally. It is unacceptable for us to simply agree with stated opinions just because we haven’t shaped our own. 

Everyone who has already been through college says these are some of the best years of our lives. Feeling passionate about a topic and spreading our opinions on campus makes this time even more worthwhile.

Benjamin Franklin once said, “For having lived long, I have experienced many instances of being obliged, by better information or fuller consideration, to change opinions, even on important subjects, which I once thought right but found to be otherwise.”

A version of this article appeared in the Nov 30 issue of the Collegiate Times.